News

Men who work for the county council in the Swedish province of Sormland could be required to sit down while urinating, if a motion put forward by the Left Party passes.

The party is taking a stand against men standing up to urinate for two reasons: the first is hygiene, the second is medical research they say shows men empty their bladders more efficiently when seated, The Local newspaper reports.

The seated-urination motion applies to toilets in the office bathrooms at the Sormland County Council and the Left Party proposed that, as a first step, dedicated standing toilets be labelled as such for men who refuse to sit while they pee, The Local reported.

Viggo Hansen, a Left Party member and substitute member on council who's responsible for the proposal, is pushing the idea because he wants the office toilets to be genderless.

Hansen insists the motion isn't a form of political meddling in people's urination preferences.

"That's not what we're doing. We want to give men the option of going into a clean toilet," he told Sveriges Television.